DEHRADUN: Newly appointed Uttarakhand Congress president Karan Mahra on Saturday accused state minister Ganesh Joshi of making indecent remarks against the opposition party's top leaders and demanded a public apology from him.
Congress workers also demonstrated outside the minister's residence, burning his effigy.
The opposition party is protesting after a video appeared online in which state agriculture minister Joshi purportedly says, "Congress is a sinking ship. It is dying. No one from outside is needed to demolish the party. Its very own 'Pappu' and 'Babli' are enough to do that. The party is demolished wherever they go."
Joshi was replying to a query from the media on the ongoing rumblings in the Congress following the recent revamp of its state unit.
Terming the minister's remarks as highly condemnable, Mahra alleged that "power has gone to his head".
Demanding a public apology from him, the PCC chief asked him to desist from passing such indecent remarks against members of a "family of freedom fighters and martyrs".
A member of Pushkar Singh Dhami's cabinet, Joshi is an MLA from Mussoorie who was arrested in 2016 for attacking "Shaktiman" - a well-trained horse who was part of Uttarakhand mounted police during a BJP protest rally.
The horse was injured and died subsequently.